WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM - US President Donald Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a second time on Sunday evening in a Truth Social post, two days before Israel's general election on October 27, The Jerusalem Post reported. 'When you go to the Polls please remember that Bibi [Netanyahu] has been an outstanding Warrior Prime Minister!' Trump wrote, saying the two had 'a great relationship in winning together' and citing the joint operations against Iran, Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury.

Source: The Jerusalem Post, Oct 25-26

'Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister. We have to finish the job that we started!' Trump wrote. The post reiterated his endorsement letter of October 18, in which he had written: 'If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so.' In the Sunday post Trump also claimed Iran had lost its navy and air force and put its inflation at 301% - claims by the president that Awaaz Punjab is reporting as his assertions, not as independently verified figures.

Source: The Jerusalem Post via EuropeSays, Oct 25-26

The fresh endorsement followed lobbying by Netanyahu, The Jerusalem Post reported. Two American sources confirmed to the Post that Netanyahu and his supporters within Trump's inner circle had increased pressure on the president to issue new statements of support. 'We have never seen Netanyahu like this before. He is showing signs of political desperation,' the sources said. Axios had earlier reported that Netanyahu and Trump spoke twice in the past three days and that Netanyahu suggested possible wording for new endorsements - reporting attributed to sources briefed on the calls.

Source: The Jerusalem Post via NM Khabar; Axios

What is solid

  • Trump published a second Truth Social endorsement of Netanyahu on Sunday evening, calling him an 'outstanding Warrior Prime Minister' and urging a vote for him to 'finish the job' (Jerusalem Post)
  • Netanyahu publicly thanked Trump, writing: 'Thank you President Trump for the tremendous support and joint work, together we will finish the job' (JFeed)

What is only claimed

  • Trump's claims in the post about Iran's losses and 301% inflation are his assertions; no independent verification accompanied them
  • The 'political desperation' description of Netanyahu's lobbying comes from unnamed sources speaking to the Jerusalem Post and Axios

Netanyahu answered with a thank-you message and a video of the two leaders, JFeed reported: 'Thank you President Trump for the tremendous support and joint work, together we will finish the job.' The endorsement lands in a deadlocked race: final polls published on Friday put Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party slightly ahead of Netanyahu's Likud, with neither bloc projected to reach the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority. A US president publicly campaigning for one candidate in an ally's election - and tying that choice to a possible resumption of the Iran war - makes Tuesday's vote a regional event, watched closely in Gulf capitals where lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers live and work.

Source: JFeed, Oct 25; Jerusalem Post